"You can wipe out an entire generation, you can burn their homes down to the ground, and somehow they will find their way back. But if you destroy their history, if you destroy their achievements then it’s as if they never existed”, George Clooney.

By and large, observance of historical events will always create paths and make sense of our past. Just as we cannot escape our biological inheritance and so does with heritage.

Whether we manage it irresponsibly or neglect it, we can never completely escape it.

Rwanda’s unique and rich cultural heritage is therefore deep rooted and affirms to the country’s pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial test of time.

Both tangible (physical) and intangible (non-physical) heritage artefacts speak volumes of Rwanda’s past legacy that is still traceable, touched, felt and well preserved by the Institute of National Museums of Rwanda (INMR).

Traditional music, dance, art, and language are all still vivid and passed on from one generation to another.

No doubt as we speak today, any exploration to Rwanda, will definitely involve delving into the country’s past.

National harvest day "Umuganura”

Rwandans across the country feted "Umuganura” in Nyanza on Sunday, 27th/ 08/2017, after a week of various traditional activities that started with a musical festival dubbed Kigali-Up.

For those who witnessed the occasion, like I did, by Saturday mid-morning, one could hardly find any accommodation in the town of Nyanza.

All hotels, motels and lodges were fully booked for revellers of "Nyanza twataramye” a cultural night festival that is geared to promote Nyanza as a travel destination and to credibly instill cultural values to Rwandans by demonstrating our ancestors’ lifestyle through poetry, traditional games, dances and drama.

It was held Saturday night, the eve of Umuganura festival.

Historical background

During ancient times, Umuganura was a major cultural event that only came second after the coronation of kings. It was a very big event performed at the beginning of every harvest as Rwandans celebrated the achievements in terms of harvest, both at the kingdom and family level.

When the celebrations for this event began remains a mystery as no exact date is known when it was introduced in Rwanda. But research in this field connects it with the introduction of agriculture in Rwanda during the 3rd century.

This celebration was institutionalised basing on how and the way it was organised; from the higher authority (Kingdom) down to the family level.

At the national level, the celebration of ‘Umuganura was led by the head of ‘Abiru’ called "Umutware w’Umuganura” coming from Abatsobe clan.

According to Alexis Kagame, apart from the King and the Queen-Mother, no one else was more powerful than "Umutware w’Umuganura”.

The ceremonies were launched on the national level by the King (Umwami), at the village level by the chief and in the family by the head of the family. Historically, celebration of Umuganura mainly focused on staple foods like sorghum and finger millet.

The celebration started at a national level in August and came to an end in June the next year. During this period, every Rwandan had the opportunity to celebrate while sharing with relatives, neighbours and friends.

However, this unfortunately came to an end by 1925 when it was abolished by colonialists (Belgians) at the time when the last "Umutware w’Umuganura” Gashamura ka Rukangirashyamba was forced into exile in Burundi.

Six years later (1931), King Yuhi IV Musinga, who had always been in conflict with colonial power and missionaries by defending Rwandan cultural values and identity, was also forced to abdicate and banished from the kingdom.

Why celebrate Umuganura?

From historical narratives, Umuganura celebrations used to be a unifying factor for Rwandans through sharing what they had harvested either at the family, village or kingdom level.

The rich and the poor, the higher and modest families all came together and shared what they had without exclusion as a form of promoting Rwandan cultural values.

This kind of tradition in Rwanda will always bring to view the past with the positive cultural values that we can use to build, unite and reconcile Rwanda as a nation.

As a form of preserving Rwandan culture, celebrating ‘Umuganura’ will enhance and educate the young generation on the values and power of safeguarding the past legacy.

At the heart of every Rwandan in and outside the country, the event will always help raise awareness among Rwandans, friends of Rwanda and policy makers on how the Umuganura celebration was a very significant part in creating unity in diversity.

With an aim of diversifying tourism in the country, this event puts cultural heritage tourism on tourism calendar, and in so doing, promoting Rwanda’s social and economic tradition.

From the traditional gorilla-tracking in the mountain ranges, Rwanda’s tourism industry has diversified in many ways today, with many offerings in the cultural and creative industries. Rwanda museums are the most recent highlight of any visit.

Entertainment with traditional recipes, coupled with food preparations are core during the celebrations. This is an opportunity not only for Rwandans but also foreign visitors who visit the country to stop and enjoy some of these performances during the period of "Umuganura”.

Our culture represents our country and we should be proud of it.

Borrowing the words of Brookner, a British novelist and art historian, who once stated that "once a thing is known, it can never be unknown? It can only be forgotten. And in a way that bends time so long as it is remembered, it will indicate a future. It is wiser, in every circumstance, to forget to cultivate the art of forgetting. To remember is to face the enemy. The truth lies in remembering”.

We must celebrate to remember the country’s past if we are to live the paths of history and time. For the past, is today and the present is the future.

The writer is an expert on cultural heritage.

Email: nkusidavid@rocketmail.com